An electronic trading system includes an electronic matching system for tradable items, such as stocks, options, and commodities. The electronic trading system often includes an electronic exchange to perform the order matching. The electronic exchange also provides market data and trade confirmation data, among other things, to subscribing trading devices. By way of illustration, an electronic exchange in derivatives trading is the CME® Globex® electronic trading platform, which is offered by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group; though the inventions described herein are not limited to derivatives trading.
To trade in an electronic trading system, a person (commonly a trader) uses a trading device to receive and electronically process data from the electronic exchange. The trading device generally outputs the information to the person via one or more display screens. The person may also interact with the computer and the information using an input device, such as a mouse or keyboard or both. Regardless of the actual user input device being used, a cursor, also referred to as a pointer, is displayed on a screen. In relation to graphical user interfaces, a cursor is a visible and moving object or pointer that a user may control with an input device. In relation to a trading interface, a user may move the cursor to a desired selection area on the trading interface and enter a keystroke input at the selection area to set various trade order parameters and/or to perform other actions, such as, for example, to generate a command to send a trade order to an electronic exchange.
The success of a trader who trades in a competitive electronic trading environment depends on many factors. One of the factors is how fast a trader can make a trade. The faster and more flexible a trader can trade, the less likely it will be that the trader will miss the trader's price and more likely the trader will make money. This is especially true when a first-in, first-out matching method is used at an electronic exchange, where the speed at which an order is sent to and reaches the electronic exchange often determines whether the order will be matched. Because the success and profitability of a trader depends on speed, it is desirable to offer tools that can assist the trader in making trades as quickly as possible and at the best possible prices.